Aikidō, in case you don't know, is a traditional Japenese martial art with a strong focus on defensive manoeuvres. In aikidō there are many lever and throwing techniques, as well as various weapon techniques with the staff (jo) and sword (ken). However, there are not much punching or kicking techniques in the curriculum, as there are in other martial arts. But of course, in order to practice your techniques, you need a training partner (uke) to attack you.
I've been practising for over six years now (I started in my late 30s), with a few longer breaks in between due to the pandemic and a few other reasons. If I keep up with my current training schedule, I could probably achieve the 1st Dan (black belt) in 1.5 years. But that's not to brag, just want to give some context. I'm still a long way from considering myself good, because there's still so incredibly much to learn and practice, even after all these years.
The reason I'm writing this text is because my attitude to this sport has changed considerably in the last year, and I think there are some lessons worth sharing that can be applied to other areas of life.
The water dragon flew over the lands at a great height. She saw the burning forests, the villages destroyed by storms, or torn apart by earthquakes, and the tides that ravaged the coasts.
She felt the pain and misery of the living beings trying to fend off the force of the elements. And she wept three bitter tears that fell to the ground. One for the dragons who desperately tried to preserve the balance. One for the Aqualis, the sea people who were so dear to her. And one for the humans who fought so bravely to survive, but had no grasp of the elements.
The dragon approached her destination and landed at the foot of Whiteheart Mountain. Three more dragons and the core elementals were already waiting there. A small group of humans was standing a bit apart.
In diesem Artikel möchte ich einen Blick darauf werfen, was der innere Kritiker ist, was ihn so mächtig macht und wie wir ihm diese Macht wieder nehmen können, um ein zufriedeneres und freieres Leben zu führen, in dem wir weniger gegen uns selbst kämpfen. Wir sehen uns die Zusammenhänge zwischen dem Kritiker, unseren Glaubenssätzen und unseren Ängsten an. Am Ende gibt es ein paar Beispiele, wie das Gelernte auch im Alltag integriert werden kann.
Dieser Text richtet sich sowohl an Anfänger als auch an Fortgeschrittene, da ich glaube, dass einige der Details nicht allgemein bekannt sind. Andererseits ist dies nur ein Artikel und kein Buch, so dass ich hier nur an der Oberfläche kratzen kann. Und mein Ziel ist es hier auch eher, eine pragmatische Anleitung zu schreiben, die nur das nötigste Minimum an Theorie enthält, um die Konzepte zu verdeutlichen.
Wenn es Fragen zum Text gibt, weil ich mich vielleicht irgendwo unklar ausgedrückt habe, oder bei anderem Feedback, kann man mich über Mastodon kontaktieren. Bei Bedarf stehen auch sicherere Formen der Kommunikation zur Verfügung.
The following text (1612 words) is the draft of a scene from my dragon fantasy novel I'm currently working on. It's a scene I thought that could stand on its own and wanted to publish it here to let others get a glimpse of it.
The Grey Mountains were still at least a day's march away, but were already clearly visible on the horizon. Torin regretted that he had to say goodbye to Kheem yesterday, because the journey had been much more fun with the two of them. On the other hand, he also realised that he could only go to his destination alone. Either way, he would be on his own for the last part of his journey.
All of a sudden Torin noticed a creeping stench in the air, which slowly grew stronger and stronger the further he went. He couldn't tell where the strange smell was coming from, but it reminded him a bit of ... rotten eggs?
Die Tagesschau hat einen Artikel veröffentlicht über eine Umfrage zu Männlichkeit, die von Plan International Deutschland bei jungen Männern im Alter von 18-35 Jahren durchgeführt wurde. Und die Ergebnisse sind erschütternd.
Ich werde im folgenden die einzelnen Punkte der Umfrage kommentieren. Dabei werde ich teilweise stark pauschalisieren, um meinen Punkt deutlich zu machen. Dass die Realität komplexer ist, ist mir durchaus bewusst. Dennoch sprechen die Zahlen eine deutliche Sprache.
Update (11.06.):Es gibt Kritik an der Seriosität dieser Umfrage.
Im Original-PDF, der im Tagesschau-Artikel verlinkt ist, ist die Methodik der Umfrage in Kapitel 2 beschrieben. Kann sich jeder selber ein Bild von machen. Dennoch haben wir jetzt erstmal diese Zahlen, und irgendwomit muss man ja arbeiten.
Update 2 (12.06.):Der SWR kritisiert ebenfalls die Methodik der Umfrage.
Fazit einer Sozialwissenschaftlerin: Die Tendenzen sind da, die Gewalt stieg auch während der Pandemie, aber die Zahlen decken sich nicht mit anderen durchgeführten Jugendstudien. Zumindest was die Gewaltbereitschaft angeht, sind die Zahlen nicht so hoch, wie die Ergebnisse der Umfrage vorgeben. Auf die anderen Punkte neben Gewalt und Rollenverständnis wurde in diesem Beitrag nicht eingegangen.
In this article we will look at what makes the inner critic so powerful and how we can take that power away from it so that we can live a more content and free life, where we fight less against ourselves. We look at the connections between the critic, our beliefs and our fears. There are also examples of how we can integrate what we have learned into our daily lives.
This text is aimed at both beginners and the more experienced, as I believe some of the details are not widely known. On the other hand, this is not a book, so we can only scratch the surface. And I want this to be a kind of pragmatic guide with the bare minimum of theory to understand the concepts.
If you have any questions about the text because some parts are unclear, or if you want to discuss the content, you can contact me via Mastodon, and we can also set up more secure forms of communication if necessary.
The following text is a monologue by the antagonist in a dragon fantasy story, describing how he sees himself from his own perspective. It enters a tiny bit into spoiler territory, but still I wanted to give you a sneak peek into this character. This monologue is not directly part of the story, but more of an exercise in bringing this character to life.
Please welcome Balor the Blind.
“Almost 700 years have passed and I still haven't found a cure. I have explored everything. I understand the elements better than anyone. I have even travelled the elemental planes and yet their ultimate secret eludes me. Sometimes I feel like giving up all hope. So many times I thought I was close to a solution, only to be disappointed again.